


Full Disclosure

by rainbow_nerds



Series: Soulmate AU [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bucky isn't actually in this fic, Closeted Character, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Pre-Relationship, Prequel, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Steve crashes into the atlantic but we all know he doesn't die, World War II, again just cause it's 1945, everyone is cool with it, free will is good, slight angst at the end sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:01:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23051386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbow_nerds/pseuds/rainbow_nerds
Summary: Steve lied about having met his soulmate in order to enlist in the army.Just some sweet scenes between Steve, Peggy and the Howlies.
Relationships: Howling Commandos & Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter & Steve Rogers
Series: Soulmate AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1493495
Comments: 7
Kudos: 153





	Full Disclosure

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a prequel to the other works in this series, it's probably worth reading those first because i'm not sure if this will make much sense without them.

Steve had lied about a lot of things on his enlistment forms before he was recruited for project rebirth. Allergies, illnesses and addresses were fudged or downright omitted to give himself the best chance of being accepted to fight. He never felt guilty about that, not if it meant he could finally follow in his father’s footsteps. There was one thing which always gave a pang when it came down to it, however, was that little box at the end marked “soulmate”. It had always been a controversial subject. The army had a policy where the unmatched could not be sent on active duty. There were those who argued against this; what if you were destined to meet your perfect match on a mission? What would happen if your soulmate was waiting for you, in some unknown country, but you never managed to leave your hometown? Ultimately though, the powers that be determined that fate was stronger than that, and that the risk of someone unmatched dying on a mission without having met their soulmate, leaving them to a life of pain and suffering without having first experienced the joy was simply too much to leave to chance. So, Steve checked the box labelled “matched” and tried to ignore the pangs of betrayal.

His soulmate seemed like the type of person who would understand. From the kind of language used in the words etched his wrist, Steve got the distinct impression that his soulmate would not be the kind to stand on ceremony. The coarse language alone seemed to imply that they were probably a soldier themselves, or maybe a sailor. Not that Steve would share that much information with just anybody. Sure, same-sex pairings existed, but they were looked on with a certain air of being somehow less-than.

So, Steve kept his words hidden, and threw himself into his training.

Peggy had been the first to figure him out. It was after the grenade incident, when it had hit him that he could have died. His first thought had been for the speaker of those words, and how they would feel if they ever found out how reckless he had been. She came to see him, and he confided in her, and learned that she had also been unmatched, though the British armed forces were less strict about refusing people based on their soulmate status. She had laughed when he showed her his words, stating that it was a good thing he would find someone as ridiculous, and without filter as himself. And she never doubted for a second, at least not outwardly, that they would both find the person they had been looking for.

It was months later when Steve found himself sharing that secret with someone else. He had changed, had been changed, both by Stark’s machine and by war. He had broken free of the media circus that had been Captain America and assembled a team from the men he had managed to rescue from the Hydra base he had raided single-handedly, the remnants of the unit his dad had fought in all those years ago.

It was a warm night, somewhere in France, and they sat around base camp sharing stories of back home. Dum Dum was extolling the virtues of his soulmate, and Steve found himself fiddling with his sleeve, where he kept it down to cover the words that meant so much to him.

“What about you, Cap? What’s your story?” He blinked and looked up, his expression clearly showing that he hadn’t exactly been paying attention.

“How’d you meet?” Gabe added helpfully, gesturing down at the wrist in question. Steve flushed, and tried to come up with a story as he had for so many others in basic training and recruitment centers, but he couldn’t. Couldn’t lie to these men who fought by his side, just as he hadn’t been able to lie to Peggy.

“I… I may have, um, fudged my enlistment papers a little.”

“You mean, you...?”

“I haven’t met my soulmate yet, no.” Morita’s eyes widened, and he passed over the bottle of wine they had been sipping out of. Steve shrugged and took a sip, out of habit, only vaguely regretting that he couldn’t feel its effects.

He rolled up his sleeve and took a deep breath as he shared his words with his newfound family.

“I may not know who they are, but they are worth waiting for.” The team took one look at his words and fell over themselves with laughter as they read the words: _I was fucking right holy fucking shit!_

“No wonder your stage uniform had those dumb gloves, imagine poor Betty from Wisconsin seeing that kinda language on a national icon!” Dum Dum was laughing at the image.

“Yeah, that was definitely a factor” Steve laughed. “I’ve had a real hard time coming up with situations where that would be the first ting someone said to me.” His eyes softened as he looked at the words.

“Well, damn, look at him getting all soft on us over a few swear words.” Steve huffed out a laugh at Gabe’s teasing and rolled his eyes.

“I hope you guys don’t think less of me for signing up when I could be leaving them behind, but it just felt… Right. You know?”

“Don’t fret about it, Captain. The rest of us all left our soulmates at home to come and fight. I know my Jenny would have understood if the war had broken out before we met, I would have joined anyway.” Falsworth piped up. “She always says free will is stronger than fate. It’s our choices that bring us together. And we’re certainly glad you said ‘fuck you’ to those discriminatory enlistment rules, because otherwise we’d all be either dead or languishing in a fucking Hydra cell right now.”

They all cheered at that, and Steve felt something settle in his chest. He had made his decision and couldn’t regret it. Destiny would come when it came, but for now he had a job to do, and men to serve alongside. When he did finally meet his soulmate, he wanted them to be proud of him, and so he would fight, and come home at the end of it all to finally hear those words spoken aloud at long last.

As Steve fought the red skull, those words were what kept him fighting for his life. As he saw the bombs loaded and ready to be deployed, it was those words which motivated him to find a way to stop them reaching their targets, and as he redirected the plane to crash into the ocean, hearing Peggy’s promises through the comms, it was the speaker of those words he whispered an apology to.

He hoped they would continue to burn bright, and to speak with such straightforward joy, even though he had disappointed them.

**Author's Note:**

> Bashed this out in about half an hour because I was procrastinating but I had no idea how to finish it so I hope this is okay?  
> If anyone has any requests for this AU hmu here or on tumblr at rainbow-nerdss (Can't figure out how to link it)


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